Mint Tulip Vegan Cafe

Mint Tulip closed it’s doors forever, this week. RIP, Mint Tulip!

Dull atmosphere, but the food is unbelievable! All vegan, super tasty. I highly recommend.

Good food. service is kind of slow. big menu with lots of options. nice options. they customize. environmentally conscious…

This place is delicious. Even non-​vegans would also like this food. Prices are very reasonable.

We ate here when we were visiting ABQ. There weren’t too many vegetarian options by the airport so we Unilocaled this place. Glad we went there. It has a hipster feel but the place was clean and our food was great. We ordered a salad and a sandwich. Service could have been faster but it was good enough. Can’t complain. Overall I recommend this place to fellow vegetarian/​vegans.

I stopped here while visiting ABQ because it came up as a vegan friendly café. And indeed it was! I ordered the beet burger with potato salad and a green smoothie. It was fantastic! The only downside was the staff. They took my order and didn’t talk to me after that. I was one of two people in the café and they never asked how the food was or even say bye when I left.

I tried this place on a whim with some coworkers a few weeks ago and have already returned. The buffalo ranch wrap is amazing! I heard great things about their Reuben’s, BBQ sandwich, and caprese salad. The chips and salsa are a bit disappointing, so give one of their other sides a try!
The diner is cute — minimally decorated but painted in mint green and pink. Expect to spend about $ 10 a person. A must try for vegans and non-​vegans alike!

Good food, prices are a bit high. The burrito is a good value at 5 dollars though. I feel like some of the portions are too small for the price. Definitely try the burrito!

I love their Ruebens! I cannot wait to try more of their food. It is a great little place and it’s right across from the University. Hands down the best vegan food restaurant in all of Albuquerque.

This restaurant is completely vegan; they serve no meat at all.
I was in Albuquerque for one day and found this place through my Happy Cow app. I am so glad I did. It’s a really cute place with delicious food. It’s a no frills storefront on a main street. You order your food at the counter (big, versatile menu), and then they bring it to your table (outside or inside seating).
I had the BLT. It was delicious. It had the fake bacon, spinich, tomato and veganese. It came with a side of fantastic potato salad (you get a choice of sides).
It was plenty of food, and very reasonable prices (my meal and a green iced tea was only $ 11). I will definitely be back when I find myself in Albuquerque again.

I’ve struggled with this review. Part of me wants to give them two stars, while the other part of me realizes they are catering mainly to a particular type of vegan who is slightly foreign to me.
What they do is fine. It really is.
But it’s too gimmicky for me.
That doesn’t mean I won’t ever go back there, but I’ll be really selective about what I do eat there. I feel badly about this, because I waited months for this place to open up when 20 Carrots closed its doors.
I went there the first day they opened, and discovered they had on their menu hot dogs, frito pies, bratwurst and sauerkraut.
It’s vegan. Really.
Yeah, vegan for those trying to convert or the newly initiated vegan. Or those who don’t mind having a diet heavily ladened with soy-​based products.
Yes, much of the meals here are soy based. Textured-​vegetable protein mainly. Also, they use Vegenaise, a popular substitute for mayonnaise. It also has soy.
I don’t usually seek out fake hot dogs. They aren’t bad. I do love beef or turkey hot dogs. But most of the time when I eat vegan, I want to know what’s in my food, and I want that food to be as fresh as possible. Not masquerading as something that’s supposed to be decadent.
Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing wrong with soy, in any form. Tofu, tempeh, textured-​vegetable protein (TVP). They are all great protein sources.
Looking at Mint Tulip’s menu reminds me of a former Seventh-​day Adventists’ health food store in Grand Rapids, Mich., which had lots of fake meat products, all soy-​based. The health food store is no longer affiliated with the religious group, but it still carries a ton of fake, soy-​based meats.
The potato salad at Mint Tulip is based on a basic picnic style recipe, and to be honest, the only thing that strays from the recipe is that they add chia seeds to give the potato salad some protein. Traditional recipes don’t usually have protein, so this is a nice addition. And the potato salad tastes good.
They have a solid Nicoise salad. It doesn’t contain protein, so if you need protein, but don’t want soy, you can ask for a small side of walnuts or chia seeds.
Where Mint Tulip excels is with its excellent selection of fresh juices you can mix or drink straight. They’ve got the traditional carrot to grapefruit to celery to apple. Mix in beet, lime, ginger, or lemon. Unfortunately the last time I was there, they ran out of carrots and apples, so I asked them what they would suggest for a tasty juice mix. They recommended orange juice mixed with ginger and cucumber. It was excellent, and something I wouldn’t have thought to mix together. I’d definitely order it again.
They don’t seem to address the sugar issue, tending to use regular sugar or beet sugar to sweeten desserts. From my experience, if someone is a vegan, usually that person is also concerned about staying away from sugar. But then again, that depends on whether the person is vegan for ethical reasons verses health reasons. I guess I know a lot of vegans who are both.
Not all of their meals are soy based. Besides using chia seeds, they also use a gluten-​based product. This is another drawback for health-​conscious vegans who are attempting to stay away from gluten. Mint Tulip uses all gluten-​based bread products from what I’ve been able to discern.
Another point to Mint Tulip’s credit is that they offer milk alternatives other than soy milk. They carry both coconut milk and almond milk.
From their tumblr blog it looks like they carry some yummy desserts, like their modified vegan-​friendly banana split, raspberry-​filled coconut cake and Zinger cupcakes, which are cream-​filled coconut cakes topped with raspberry jelly, coconut flakes and frosting. Those look and sound like slices of heaven on a plate. After all they do have sugar in them as well. They must not make most of these items all the time, because the only dessert they had the last time I was there was a peanut butter cookie bar, which looked and sounded wonderful, but I decided to be good and skip it mainly due to the sugar in it.
They also have healthy and not so healthy shakes.
So Mint Tulip seems to cater to all kinds of vegans, though focusing on those who enjoy fake soy-​based meat substitutes. They are willing to work with you have restrictions and they definitely don’t want to alienate the Raw Food Vegan by working with the individual to come up with a meal which is purely Raw Food Vegan.
Another thing that’s good about this place, is it helps those who wince at the thought of vegetarian and vegan cuisine to learn that meatless, healthy meals can taste pretty good. So I’m giving them four stars for their efforts.

Wow — the Vegetarian Meet-​Up group had a Sunday Brunch meeting at Mint Tulip this past Sunday, and I really enjoyed the food. The place was packed, however the staff seemed able to keep up with the rush. I had iced chai and the tofu scramble. Yum. Will return soon.

Although their food isn’t spectacular I did enjoy it. It’s always nice to go to a restaurant and not have to ask if the stock or sauce has meat or fish in it.
Vegan Mr Rinky wasn’t impressed but he did gobble his lunch with gusto.
I had Frito Pie Hot Dog —a vegan delight with a hot dog in a bun with cheese and chile sauce topped with fritos and onions. I think a toasted bun might have helped
improve the taste.
Mr Rinky had a veggie sandwich on ww bread. Lots of veggies.
I had a chocolate shake. Mr Rinky had a strawberry shake. Both very satisfying.
I thought mine was especially tasty and creamy. But as a chocoholic I’d probably be happy eating chocolate covered passer clips.
Ambiance is simple but comfy. No frills but I actually liked the cloth napkins and plates made of rectangular steel pans.
Staff was friendly. Fellow diners were happy.
I’d definitely return next time I’m in Albq.

This place has very good quality food at an affordable price. 100% vegan/​organic, plus they make fresh juice which I am particularly partial too. The menu selection isn’t huge, but it is very diverse.
When I went at 1:30 pm they seemed to have more customers than the two people working could handle. the place was less than ¾ full.
My food took 15 – 20 minutes to get to me during this «rush», but to be fair, they warned me in advance that it would.
In summary, you can pay just as much at a place like Chile’s, and not get this quality of food.

A great place for vegan sandwiches and more! The Reuben rocks and I wish I could sit around eating it all day long.
They buy organic and sustainable food, and to get faux meat products from ethical companies!
They have cloth napkins!
There’s a couch you can sit on!
Milk shakes!
The fruit cup isn’t full of cantaloupe! In fact you won’t see any foul cantaloupe in this place.
They do run out of things, but don’t be a baby about it. That’s what happens when you buy food responsibly; there’s not a lot of waste and things get eaten!

I’m giving the Mint Tulip four stars because there just aren’t many vegan restaurants in ABQ. While I wasn’t blown away, the food’s not bad. The burrito was actually pretty good. Very spicy and the side of ranch to cool it down is a nice touch. Wasn’t thrilled with the lime-​aid. The burger was okay. Would have been much better if the bun wasn’t stiff/​borderline stale. Potato salad needed salting which I took care of myself.
Ambiance is certainly lacking a bit (what’s up with the color scheme on the exterior??). Food can also take a little longer than you’d think, even when the place is practically empty.
I’ll probably go back here at some point but I’m in no rush.
Annapurna’s is still my favorite spot for vegan/​vegetarian food.

I love this cute, vegan restaurant! Their food is always tasty & fresh.
So, I’m not a vegan but I am lactose intolerant & a lot of meat tears up my stomach. (i.e. I am constantly looking for dairy & meat alternatives.) Thus, when I come to visit my boyfriend in ABQ every other month – I greatly look forward to hitting up this place.
I usually get the BLT with a side of pasta salad for $ 9 and a vegan shake for $ 4. I suppose one could argue that that’s a bit pricey for lunch in ABQ but I don’t mind cause it lasts me for two meals.
I wish there was a Mint Tulip in San Jose, Ca – cause once my bf’s done with grad school – I’m going to miss this restaurant the most!

Had a delicious burrito. Perfect mix of potatoes, spinach, green chili, and vegan choritzo. I was in heaven. I love the menu at this place. Simple Americana… typical stuff that we vegan’s miss!
Can’t go wrong with a milkshake or soft serve! Mmm Mmm good!!!

I was super excited to eat at Mint Tulip, pure vegan restaurants are obviously hard to find!
It was nicely decorated, had a good vibe to it, and the variety of food that was presented was promising. We ordered and sat down and waited a while for our drinks to come out, and we waited close to 30 minutes for our food. Unfortunately waiting that long for food was a little stressful, and the experience you have when eating at a restaurant you haven’t eaten at before makes a big impression.
The food was well presented and good, but I felt it was something I could have made at home. I have eaten at many vegan restaurants all over the country, and I really really wanted to like this place. Maybe I would have if we hadn’t waited so long for food.

Came down to Albuquerque from Santa Fe to pick up someone from the airport. We were looking forward to eating at 20 carrots, when we realized it was closed and Mint Tulip had taken over their space. Which was plenty fine with us! It was great!
My boyfriend and I got the Rueben with potato salad and a wrap with tempeh cooked in hot sauce with vegan ranch (don’t remember the name of the dish) with a side salad to split. The food was excellent! The tempeh cooked in hot sauce was soo yummy and not too spicy. That was my favorite dish! The Reuben was really good, but I’m not a huge fan of fake cheese. I thought it could have used less cheese and more «meat», but my boyfriend was impressed with it.
A friend that was with us got the veggie burger. It had a beet tint but he said it wasn’t overpowering and the texture was good. He also got the ginger lemonade, which smelled yummy from across the table.
The décor was interesting and I loved the mannequins inside and the colors of the walls. The chalkboard menu wall is something I really liked as well. The boys I was with told me the name reminded them of a certain feminine body part and it made them giggle, but don’t let the name mislead you.
The food was great tasting with large portions, enough to fill some hungry men. I regret that I ate too much of my lunch to save any room for the strawberry cheesecake they had on special that day. I will definitely be back next time I am in Albuquerque!